• Pochettino refuses to put time limit on how long striker will be out• ‘We hope it is not a massive issue but need to wait until the scan’

Harry Kane is facing a prolonged period out of action and could miss the World Cup after sustaining an injury in Tottenham Hotspur’s 4-1 victory over Bournemouth yesterday that resulted in the striker departing from the south coast on crutches and in a protective boot.

Kane collided with Bournemouth’s goalkeeper, Asmir Begovic, after 34 minutes and during a subsequent tangle of legs, twisted his right ankle. The 24-year-old received treatment but was unable to continue and will undergo a scan today to assess just how bad the damage is.

• Manager claims Juve executives put pressure on referee in tunnel• Tottenham need to learn on and off the pitch, Pochettino says

Mauricio Pochettino has described Juventus as “specialists” in football’s dark arts and a club that has “the habit to put pressure on the referee”. The Tottenham Hotspur manager reflected on the 4-3 aggregate defeat against the Italian team in the Champions League last 16 and he felt that his side had enjoyed the better of the two legs on the field. Away from it, where Pochettino said a different game had taken place, it was another story.

Pochettino said he had seen the Juventus owner, Andrea Agnelli, and the chief executive, Guiseppe Marotta, in the tunnel during the second leg at Wembley – which Juventus won 2-1 – and how “at half-time they put pressure on the referee”. Juventus had been incensed by the decision of the Polish official, Szymon Marciniak, to ignore a stonewall penalty for Douglas Costa in the 17th minute, following a challenge from Jan Vertonghen.

Tottenham Hotspur are a huge club. A famous club. One of England’s grandest institutions. They’ve got a European pedigree to match, having been the first British club to land a trophy on the continent – the 1963 Cup Winners Cup – and the winners of two Uefa Cups since. But their record in the big one constitutes a gap on the honours board: a narrow semi-final defeat to Benfica in 1962 and a quarter-final thumping by Real Madrid in 2011 is all they’ve got to show in the European Cup. So getting through to the quarters this year would be a feat not to be sniffed at. Mauricio Pochettino’s side may be one of the best teams in Europe right now … but history can be a burden, so one step at a time.

The quarters are tantalisingly close, though. Spurs may have already beaten reigning champions Real Madrid and done for much-fancied Borussia Dortmund this season, but Juventus still looked quite the hurdle when these clubs were paired in the Round of 16. The Old Lady has made two of the last three finals, after all. And when Gonzalo Higuain scored twice in the first nine minutes of the first leg … well. But look at how Spurs fought back through Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen! A draw, two away goals, advantage Tottenham. If Europe didn’t know it before, they certainly know now: Spurs are the real deal.

• ‘Spurs like to attack but sometimes allow the opposition chances’• Paulo Dybala fit for Champions League last‑16 second leg

Gianluigi Buffon likened Juventus to a wounded animal ahead of the Champions League last‑16 second leg against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley but he insisted they always raised their game when the odds were against them.

Buffon said the outbreak of pessimism in Turin after the 2-2 first-leg draw was entirely normal; any blip Juventus suffer is invariably magnified. But as the manager, Massimiliano Allegri, suggested he was ready to start with Gonzalo Higuaín, Paulo Dybala and Douglas Costa up front, Buffon sounded a note of optimism.

New system is having teething problems but can be refined by making it quicker and sticking more closely to its ground rules

This is both the trickiest fix to effect and the most vital. On Wednesday night the Wembley crowd could have succumbed to hypothermia in the time it took Paul Tierney to resolve decisions. As Mauricio Pochettino pointed out, having to wait two minutes to know whether you can celebrate a goal is a bit of a buzzkill. VAR is supposed to check all “reviewable” decisions (goals, penalties, red cards, mistaken identity). Goals are particularly problematic because the game stops and cannot restart until a decision is confirmed. Quite simply, these confirmations need to be quicker. Greater experience may help but there is a feeling that some video assistant referees also need a sit down and a reminder of the rules.

It was a game of two halves, but with a twist. Spurs romped home in the second period with a cocky display on a carpet of snow. The first half, however, belonged to VAR. The video assistant disallowed a goal, turned a free-kick to a penalty and provided half a dozen excruciating interruptions in which the referee, Paul Tierney, stood forlornly with his finger in his ear.

As far as the football went, a hat-trick for Fernando Llorente was accompanied by two from Son Heung-min and a first Spurs goal for Kyle Walker-Peters, while Stephen Humphrys scored a sweet goal for Rochdale to temporarily level the scores at 1-1. Talk among the shivering Wembley crowd of under 25,000 though was of technology, its effectiveness, and why it took so flipping long to use it.

Mauricio Pochettino speaks! “We have a very good squad, they can all play in different competitions. We want to go further in this competition, today is a great opportunity to win. The FA Cup is always difficult away from home, it is difficult to show your real quality and level: look at Manchester City! But we have a chance to play again, at Wembley, and move to the next stage.”

7.22pm GMT

Rochdale boss Keith Hill talks to BT Sport: “We came down here early and have done all our photographs. Now we have to take control of our performances. We’ve prepared really well. We’re certainly not overawed. We’re relaxed, confident and looking forward to it. We’re here to try and beat Tottenham, if we lose I’ll be bitterly disappointed. Our FA Cup form has been amazing.”

• Belgian defender not fit for second leg after hamstring injury• Mauricio Pochettino will not rush Alderweireld back into side

Mauricio Pochettino has made it plain Toby Alderweireld will not be fit for Tottenham Hotspur’s Champions League match against Juventus next Wednesday.

The central defender, who has a hamstring injury sustained in training last Thursday, is still recovering. “He is still not participating with the group,” Pochettino said when asked about Alderweireld’s prospects for the Wembley leg of the last-16 tie, which is finely poised at 2-2. “The answer is clear.”

England hopefuls have a mixed afternoon, confusion for Serge Aurier and Romelu Lukaku finally does it against a top-six team

The weight of goals that Sergio Agüero has scored against Arsenal, with Sunday’s strike a fifth in five matches, should have raised Shkodran Mustafi’s awareness of the Argentinian to red alert. Instead, Agüero was allowed to scamper on and score a route one opening goal from Claudio Bravo’s goalkick. It was a hideous lapse in concentration and application from the Germany defender, by no means the first of a type that frequently costs Arsène Wenger. Arsenal have suffered a drought of gold standard defenders since the loss of Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole as long ago as 2006. There have been quality creative players and forwards galore since then but Wenger’s blind spot for defenders and defensive organisation has been a crucial factor in his team’s multiple failures. John Brewin